Within our own time the devotion to the Holy Family has grown under the
fostering care of the Supreme Pontiff, who has authorized the
establishment of associations throughout the world, by which men and
women, married and unmarried, are gathered into one fold from the
standpoint of the family. The Holy Father desires that all the faithful of
the Catholic Church should consider this association as a consecration to
the Christian life, and that they will feel that they are bound to lead a
holy life because their association is established and legalized by God.
For what is the Sacrament of Matrimony but the legalizing of the family
before God and man? Let us consider the family as a special institution of
God’s providence for the preservation of the world, and the propagating in
it of sound principles of learning and religion.
Prayer.
O most loving Jesus, etc., etc.
Third Day.
We are to consecrate ourselves to God under the union of a family. That is
the pretence with which we come before God, to claim His kindness and
mercy because we belong to a family. We are not isolated creatures,
looking for our selfish ends, but we are a union of individuals
constituted under a certain authority, which gives us a claim to the
respect of God and man; for God has said, “Where there are two or three
gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”—Matt.
xviii. 20. The formula of consecration of a Christian family has been
given us by the Sovereign Pontiff himself; rules, regulations, and by‐laws
have been given to this society under the same authority of the Holy
Father. The whole Christian family should be so united among themselves,
that there be but one family under one head, set over all to rule them by
its supreme power. We belong to this Christian family of the Church; let
us then unite for the common good of all.
Prayer.
O most loving Jesus, etc., etc.
Fourth Day.
The scope of the pious association of the Holy Family is that all
Christian families be consecrated to the Holy Family of Nazareth, placing
it before themselves for veneration and imitation; offering up every day
before its image prayers in its honor, and practising in their lives the
sublime virtues which the Holy Family offered for imitation to every grade
of society. The rich will find a model before them, the learned and highly
educated will know exactly what to do according to the dignity of their
position, the working class, especially, will find here the guidance and
friendship needed in their temptations and troubles. The Holy Family is a
poor, working, humble family, as poor as the poorest, as laborious as the
most hard‐working, as humble as the most lowly.
Prayer.
O most loving Jesus, etc., etc.
Fifth Day.
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